5 Reasons You Should Own At Least One Prime Lens

If you’ve just made the move from smartphone or point and shoot to a DSLR body, you should now be considering the lenses you use. You have gotten the kit lens along with the camera and wanting another lens for variety, or you are looking to improve the technical quality of your photos. Toby Gelston (aka CameraRec Toby) suggests that at least one of the lenses in your arsenal should be a prime lens.

Prime lenses are lenses with a single focal length (e.g. 50mm, 85mm and so on). While Toby lists 5 reasons for using a prime lens – Bokeh quality; get more light; quality; value for money & size – I think Toby is only scratching the surface with the reasons to go prime. Do you own a prime lens?

Definitely. Most people I know (including me) go for a telephoto lens to follow the kit lens. But if I had it to do over again, I would have saved for a 28mm f/1.8 or other ‘normal’ prime. (50mm is too tight for ‘normal’ on a crop sensor).

Steel Fish

My 35mm prime and 40mm macro primes are my favorites. The 35mm lives on my camera and only comes off for the macro or telephoto. Haven’t touched the stock lens in months.

Rick Scheibner

I’ve got a 50, but I also picked up a 135mm f/2 last year. It’s not my go-to lens for single-subject portraits.

Aha. DYAC! I’ve been contemplating a 135mm for portrait work. I have 50mm and 85mm 1.8s, and more recently acquired 35mm 1.4, and now my 35mm is what I go to most. Just find it a lovely focal length to work with.

I own three prime lenses. The Canon FD 50mm f1.8 was the kit lens for my Canon A-1. I bought a Spiratone 400mm f6.3 T-mount lens because, well, it was cheap.
I got a used Canon FD 28m f2.8 lens as a consolation for talking my wife out of buying me a Canon T3i. The 28 has become my favorite lens.

Clinton Lofthouse is a Photographer, Retoucher and Digital Artist based in the United Kingdom, who specialises in creative retouching and composites. Proud 80's baby, reader of graphic novels and movie geek!
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